COMPOSTING AND SAWDUST TOILETS from this…. to this….. Why? What is the Problem Anyway? A Short History of the Flush Toilet: Before the advent of the flush toilet, humanure, or ‘night soil,’ was applied to the land, and purchased as valuable commodity! As cities increased in size, the ‘scavengers’ or ‘night soil collectors’ could not keep up with the job, so overflow would occur, and additionally, their carts would ‘almost always’ leave a trail of manure down the street – not best practice for human health. So, in response to the demand for an alternative, inventive people created water closets and earth closets. Earth closets were an in-house system where waste was immediately covered by a layer of earth, to be disposed of later. Water closets were created to immediately remove waste from the house, usually to a tank outside. Water closets were more appealing (out of sight, out of mind!). However, these posed an even greater risk of overflow, as well as the difficulty of managing contaminated water. Thus our complex sewage systems and treatment facilities were created in response to the need to manage this overflow and increased risk of infection posed by lacing large amounts of water with fecal matter. Most cities simply discharged their waste directly into nearby rivers and lakes. Problems with Wastewater Management Today: Basic description of Sewer Systems • Grates remove large solids, or they are cut into small pieces • Solids are screened, floated, and settled, and a polymer or alum is added to coagulate particles so they can settle out. • Biological processes such as trickling filters digest the digestible carbon component, reducing the biological oxygen demand, but producing a lot of bacteria and concentrated solids (sludge). • Secondary settling: more chemicals are added to make things stick together and sink. • Fats, oils and greases are skimmed off. • Sludge goes to processing, where it is dewatered and turned into a sludge cake, or ‘biosolid’. • This cake is landfilled, incinerated, land applied, or composted. • The liquid sludge continues to be filtered, and is sometimes sent back to re- inoculate the entire process with beneficial bacteria ‘activated sludge’ • The effluent goes to disinfection, meaning that it is chlorinated, which creates carcinogenic chlorine compounds ( dioxins, among other things.) An alternative to this would be ozone or UV rays. • Some plants then dechlorinate, by adding sulfur dioxide and filtering with carbon adsorption. • Then the effluent is aerated to a dissolved oxygen level that is equal to that of the receiving water. • Discharged into a river, lake, ocean, or injection well. The Problems: It uses too much water Every day, most of us use an average of 1.5-5 gallons of drinking-quality water just to flush a toilet once! The average person in North America uses 7,300 gallons of drinking water each year on toilet flushing alone! It pollutes Household wastewater is additionally combined with stormwater, and industrial wastewater, creating a mix of potential human pathogens, fossil fuel contaminants, and various other toxins, then is treated with chemicals (some of which are carcinogenic), and discharged into rivers, oceans, lakes, or injected into our groundwater. Treated sewage effluent is rich in carbon dioxide, nitrate, and phosphate, creating eutrophication of lakes and rivers into which it is disposed. Piping often contains cadmium, lead, asbestos (old concrete piping) It is expensive It would be unfeasibly expensive to clean the water back to drinking water quality after being additionally contaminated with stormwater and industrial wastes. It disposes of a potential resource Human manure and urine, properly dealt with, are an extremely valuable and free soil amendment! All this waste while our freshwater supplies are globally dwindling, being privatized, constantly polluted, and wasted! Deforestation has degraded water catchment basins, and their water-holding power is lost. Mining, industry, power production, etc…have been releasing toxics into previously clean water. The North American west is a perfect example of corrupted water distribution, overuse, and abuse. The desert cities are taking water from the far north, and water is being commodified from Alaska, to the Great Lakes, to Bolivia to feed these unnatural population explosions. The US Department of Interior has identified the following cities as heading for a water crisis by 2025: o Highly Likely: Las Vegas, Reno, Albuquerque, Denver, Houston, Salt Lake, and Flagstaff. o Substantial: Los Angeles, Sacramento, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego. o Moderate: Seattle, Dallas, Casper, Boise, and Salem. SEE THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WEBPAGE FOR MORE INFO:WWW.DOI.GOV THEIR ‘PLAN’ IS CALLED WATER 2025 The primary way that governments have been addressing these difficulties is by increasing manipulation of natural flows and commodification, which will increase injustice of water ‘flowing uphill towards money.’ In short, water is precious and endangered. If water becomes polluted, it is almost impossible to contain that pollution. It is our responsibility to our grandchildren and our Nations to fulfill the sacred responsibility given to us to protect and preserve our waters. A note about Septic Systems: Septic tanks and soil absorption systems (leachfields) are meant to settle out solids and drain the effluent into the ground. Nutrients and toxic chemicals are not removed in this process. Adsorption occurs in leachfields, in which particles and chemicals adhere to soil particles, where biological and chemical processes can break them down. This can be very safe and effective, depending upon your soil type, where the groundwater flows, and how low your pipes are buried. Pipes are typically placed 2 to 10 feet below the surface – far too low for active soil microbes and plants to reach it. Additionally, the leftover sludge is again, just simply taken to your standard wastewater treatment plant. Composting Toilets What is a composting toilet? A composting toilet system contains and controls the composting of human waste, toilet paper, carbon additive, and food scraps (optionally) without water immersion. Operated properly, they break down the waste to 10 to 30% of its original size, and create an end product of rich humus. This humus must legally be buried or removed by a septage hauler in the United States, but is used as an active edible crop soil conditioner in other countries. The main components of a composting toilet are: • a composting reactor connected to one or more dry or micro-flush toilets • a screened exhaust system (often fan-forced) to remove odors, carbon dioxide, and water vapor • a means of ventilation • a means of draining and managing excess liquid (leachate) • process controls, i.e. mixers • an access door for removal of the end product All this is not truly necessary, but we’ll get into that later………… What is Composting? Composting is controlled aerobic (oxygen-using) biological decomposition of moist organic matter, producing a soil conditioner. The organisms responsible for composting are bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi, Soil animals like worms, protozoans, nematodes, and arthropods perform major roles by degrading surface litter, consuming bacteria, and assisting aeration. What’s so good about compost? • Humus, the end product of the composting process, builds soil structure and provides a productive environment for plants and essential soil organisms • It is porous, therefore it shelters nutrients and provides lots of surface area to which nutrients can bond. (Humus traps 3 to 5 times more nutrients, water, and air that other soil constituents do. • Compost aids in the suppression of plant diseases • It releases nutrients gradually, like a time release vitamin pill • Cheap! Free! Types of Composting Toilet Systems: Self Contained or Centralized Composting Toilet systems are either self-contained, in which the toilet itself and the small composting reactor are one unit, or centralized, where the toilet connects to a composter that is somewhere else. You can buy them already manufactured or build your own on site. Batch (multiple chamber) vs. Continuous (Single Chamber) A continuous composter is a single chamber composter, into which excrement is added to the top and the end product is removed from the bottom. A batch composter is one in which there are two or more interchangeable composters. One at a time is filled, then is allowed to cure while another one is being filled. Advocates of continuous composting maintain that it is simple, allows urine to constantly moisten the process, and allows the center of the mass to heat up through uninterrupted microbial activity. Batch composting advocates say that by not continuously adding fresh material, more thorough composting is allowed and is uninterrupted by added nutrients, pathogens, salts, and ammonia. Active vs Passive: Passive systems are systems in which the material is allowed to decompose without active process control. Active systems may feature mixers, pile leveling devices, tumbling drums, heaters, fans, etc… If the process is active, composting happens faster, enabling the entire system to be smaller, but this creates more moving parts, potential need for elect Successful Factors for Composting Toilet Systems • Love your Microorganisms! Make sure there is a large population of bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, yeast, algae, protozoa, and other organisms. This can easily be accomplished by adding a couple of handfuls of sifted compost from a warm outdoor compost pile. A scoop of rotting forest leaves is another good way to bring these precious beasts into your composting toilet. • Aeration. If there is an oxygen deficit, the aerobic bacteria will die and anaerobic bacteria will replace them. These critters produce hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane gas (smelly stuff). So, the system must be aerated. There are many ways and means of doing this. Commerical composting systems have designed venting systems, and mixing mechanisms to aerate the compost and provide a good surface area to volume ratio. The compost should have a loose, non-compacted texture. Ways to ensure this include adding bulking agents, ie wood chips, popcorn, etc….